Harvester of Sorrow
by MechaUltimaZero
Summary: Beat and scarred, but not broken, Naruto finds a pair of outcasts like him and learns under them. He refuses to compromise his goal of peace, but will never forgive those that tried to end him. The Harvester of Sorrow has arrived. Discont., re-written.
1. Prologue: The Curtain is Raised

Harvester of Sorrow

_Seeds of Revenge_

"**Come."**

It was a voice filled with power, one that made you almost mesmerized into compliance.

"**Come here, child."**

The source of the voice was a man robed completely in black, and his face was hidden. His words… they were commanding, but also gentle, more beckoning.

Dark flames accompanied by a chilling sound: someone had joined him. And if Naruto hadn't known better, then the newcomer would have appeared through a gateway forged from shadows.

Shorter than the first person, this newcomer was a woman, and she asked, **"Oh come now darling, surely you don't want us to leave you all alone in the big, bad world out there? I mean, isn't it better to be with someone – even total strangers – than to be with no one at all?"**

Naruto was eight and a half years old, but he was neither stupid nor naïve – he'd had that last sliced and diced clear out of him over the last couple of years.

He hadn't moved an inch since the man had first spoken; he'd been trying to gauge how much of a threat the stranger(s) posed. The woman clearly admitted that they'd never met before – or that _he_ hadn't met _them_, at any rate. On top of that, she seemed to be insinuating that he was better off with a man and a woman he'd likely never seen before than he was minding his own business.

Granted, the last person who'd taken an interest in him had literally saved him from a mental oblivion worse than death, so maybe these two could be trusted….

No, trust had to be earned, not granted. And so far, these two had done absolutely nothing to earn it.

At the same time, however, the last thing he wanted was to provoke these two into attacking him. After all, knowing nothing about what they may have been capable of, provocation was equivalent to suicide in these kinds of situations.

Deciding to try and get some information out of them before making a choice, he asked, "If I go along with you two, then what's in it for me? And at that rate, what do _you_ stand to gain?"

The response he would never have expected was the one he got: the man laughed at him. It was chilling to the bone, but at the same time overflowing with mirth. After reducing his outburst to mere chuckles, the tall stranger said – apparently more to himself than to his companion or to Naruto – **"He's a shrewd one, eh? Ever better: just a lesson he's already learned."**

Then, properly composing himself, the man replied, **"**_**We**_** stand to gain a trustworthy and competent ally, whereas we can teach you the various methods of combat. Imagine it: in less than a decade, you could be a force to be reckoned with, even by the standards of this planet's elite warriors. But where are my manners? We know you, and yet you've never met us before tonight. My name is Marluxia, the Graceful Assassin. My companion is named Larxene, the Savage Nymph. We seek to remake the worlds – not in our image or for power, but because there are simply a number of things that we consider to be wrong and wish to correct. Our motives could be interpreted in any number of ways, but that is the truth of it."**

Interested by Marluxia's seeming transparency, Naruto asked, "And just what kind of wrongs do you wish to correct, Marluxia and Larxene?"

This time it was the Savage Nymph who answered: **"Let's use this world as an example, shall we? Marluxia and I were just waltzing around not too long ago, when we heard this most **_**disturbing**_** piece of gossip. You see, apparently this little kid was just doing his own thing when some **_**jackass**_** tried to gouge the poor little guy's right eye out of its socket! Just between you and me, I've never really been one for kids, but even **_**I**_** tend to have issues with this kind of thing. Now imagine if someone, and I don't know **_**who**_** it could be, but SOMEONE decided that they were fed up with ignorant fools trying to cut up little boys and set out to fix the problem. They'd probably start by making an example out of the bastard that did it. **_**Then**_**, they'd promise the poor tyke to help him out, make sure he can take care of himself, and let him remedy the situation however he felt he needed to. And all they'd probably ask in exchange would be for a little help here and there, just tying up some loose ends from time to time. Now I don't know about you, Naruto, but I'd take that deal."**

Naruto wasn't sure why, but he liked these two. Their… hypothetical methodology seriously agreed with him, and he said to them: "Okay then, you two, let's make a deal. You help me clean up this shitstain of a town – and maybe even the entire planet – and help me attain the power to keep it clean, and I'll help you out when you need me… but only within reason. I'm not jumping off of any cliffs or going on suicide missions."

Lowering his hood, Marluxia revealed that he had somewhat long, spiky pink hair. He answered, "I would expect nothing less from one as… disillusioned with the locals as you are. You might have been wondering about why both of our names have an "X" in them. It is because we are… crossed out of society, so to speak. We have defected from an organization full of such people. If you wish, you may follow the trend and rearrange your name with an X. It is entirely your call, and most of us are completely different people from who we were before induction."

Changing the name to an X-anagram? Not the most original idea, but it created some interesting possibilities.

Deciding to go with something that would sound at least somewhat intimidating, the lad declared, "Then for as long as I'm your apprentice, call me Turanox."

Larxene lowered her hood and smiled like a predator. _Turanox, eh? The first part of it sounds a bit like "Tyrant". He probably did that on purpose, too. Turanox, I like you already._

_________

Such is the origin of the man who the Worlds would come to fear as Turanox, the Harvester of Sorrow.

__________

**There you have it, my version of the classic Naruto/Kingdom Hearts crossover. You'll notice quickly, however, that this is significantly darker than the majority of these fics. I'm not quite doing an OrganizationXIII!Naruto, nor do I plan to have him losing his heart any time soon. Observe also that I'm having Naruto/Turanox join up with my favorite pair of traitors, Marluxia and Larxene. This is for a number of reasons.**

**1) I don't think I've ever seen a Naruto influenced by ONLY these particular two. So far, he always either joins up with Sora and the gang, or if he joins , he gets trained by all of them and is capable of pwning them all at once within a few short years – which even **_**I**_** will admit is pretty unrealistic.**

**2) It gives me a chance to really, REALLY screw up the KH timeline, especially where **_**Days**_** and **_**Re:Chain**_** are concerned. I could have Kairi and Naminé remain separate entities, have Xion absorb Roxas instead of the other way around… who knows? The possibilities are endless. I might also have characters from **_**Birth by Sleep**_** make appearances – almost certainly Aqua and Terra, and I might bring in Vanitas as a side villain.**

**3) Naruto getting trained only by Marluxia and Larxene after their betrayal is much more believable than being trained by the entire Organization. There's just no reason or excuse to be given that much power all at once, even if you have to trade blood, sweat, and tears for it.**

**Pairing options: Naruto/OC, Naruto/Xion, Naruto/Yuffie, or MAYBE Naruto/Aqua. Up for grabs: YOU DECIDE!!!! (P.S.: that means vote in reviews.)**


	2. Armored Alchemist Interlude of Light

Harvester of Sorrow

_Armored Alchemist/First Interlude of Light_

**I'm going to introduce a number of other worlds in this story, most notably from **_**Golden Sun**_** or **_**Fire Emblem 8**_**, **_**Buso Renkin**_** (as should be evident from the title), and **_**Shaman King**_**. The only KH canon worlds I plan on using are Castle Oblivion, Hollow Bastion, The World That Never Was, and possibly either Traverse Town or Twilight Town. Any other world ideas would be appreciated. I am seriously considering Fortuna from DMC4.**

**Pairing votes (so far):**

**Naruto/Xion = 5?**

**Naruto/Aqua = 1**

**This poll is closed now, since Xion clearly is more popular as Naruto's GF (not Guardian Force…. sorry, FF8 flashback right then), so instead I'll have Aqua as an older sister figure. Both of these ladies will become prominent figures in Naruto's life, of course.**

**This story, along with **_**Perfect Insanity**_**, which I published a few minutes before it, has gotten so much feedback from you guys that for the first time in a long time, I'm genuinely inspired. I'm proud of myself for reaching such seeming prominence, and also I little terrified of the monsters I've created with these two fics. I'm almost happy enough to cry, and I sincerely hope that you enjoy the rest of this story: the fruits of my labor and your thoughtful, constructive input. I especially want to thank A Dragoon Knight, who literally reviewed this in essay format and brought up several excellent points, which I answered for him in a reply. There are a fair few other reviewers I would like to thank, but whom I can't remember at the moment. I shall endeavor to give them the proper recognition they deserve soon enough.**

**Having gotten all of this off my chest, let's observe our Harvester of Sorrow, shall we?**

_Six years after desertion of Elemental Nations_…

A young man dressed in a black cloak with a black masquerade strode calmly through the moonlit streets of Ginsei City.

Naruto, although he kept his face hidden, wasn't actively hated in this place – but granted, he was still mostly anonymous. Therefore, he used his original name instead of the Turanox alias. He reserved that for societies he was crossed out of, like Hidden Leaf and Amestris – he'd been there once, and fought a pair of State Alchemists to a standstill before being forced to flee.

Granted, he'd later been able to "harvest" the homunculi Envy, Sloth, Gluttony, and Pride by working _with_ said Alchemists, so there was a bit of a ceasefire at the moment. Wrath was still after his hide, but all Naruto had to do to avoid him was stay out of Amestris in the future.

Given that he (Naruto) used a scythe like Marluxia but specialized in thunder magic like Larxene, the people of Amestris – as well as the Homunculi of that world – had generously given him an extra alias or two, like "The Thunder Reaper" and as Envy had called him shortly before death, "Harvester of Sorrow". Naruto loved that one, and used it perpetually. If he didn't want to give one of his names (Naruto and Turanox), then he simply called himself "The Harvester of Sorrow."

Naruto's mission here was the same as it always was: acquire hearts for Marluxia and Larxene. They hadn't explained to him why, and he hadn't asked. All Naruto knew about what he was to do was that his job, when they didn't need him to do more specific missions, was to go to various worlds and reap hearts for them. It was generally slow work, and required great caution to do so without getting caught. Of course, he'd harvested a few wicked souls since he arrived a few days ago, but he'd used the city's abnormally high disappearance rate to his advantage by vaporizing any possible remains. Normally, of course, only a Keybearer could do this satisfactorily, but Naruto smirked as he remembered a story Marluxia had once told him.

_Flashback: Engaged_

_Marluxia released a small sigh as he looked over Vexen's research on the Keyblade. It was one of the few things on the Chilly Academic's computer that wasn't protected, since everybody needed to know about the Keyblades' power after Roxas and Xion were inducted into the Organization. The weapon was simply fascinating beyond compare._

_Marluxia didn't quite trust the Keybearers – at least not while Axel was around. Marluxia's eyes narrowed subconsciously as he thought of their "Flurry of Dancing Flames". The man was perceptive – too perceptive for Marluxia's liking._

_Roxas was already firmly in the fellow Assassin's grasp, and at the present rate, it wouldn't be long before Xion was as well. Axel was slippery, but he was far too loyal to the Organization as a whole. If it came down to a civil war, Axel would undoubtedly side with Xemnas – and Roxas would certainly side with Axel._

_Marluxia would not allow his nemesis to have _both_ Keyblade Masters on his side; he __**must**__ bring Xion over to his camp somehow._

_Throughout all of these musings, Marluxia's eyes never wavered from the computer screen, reading the Keyblade data and simultaneously downloading it for his future use. Marluxia was completely snapped out of his thoughts when he saw a perfect blueprint of the Kingdom Key. Vexen had somehow been able to completely dissect the weapon and see what made it tick. Marluxia absorbed this like a sponge, and then had a flash of insight: using this, he could create an entirely new weapon that had some or all of the Keyblade's properties, without becoming a magnet for the Heartless!_

_Marluxia now let out a hollow laugh as he memorized Vexen's annotated notes on the Kingdom Key's powers, retrieved his data disk _**(imagine a USB drive)**_ and turned off the computer's power. After all, it was impolite to leave Vexen's gadgets running when no one was around, even if Marluxia _had_ just stolen a secret of sorts…_

_Flashback: Terminated._

That was two weeks before Marluxia and Larxene had met Naruto, and THAT had only been a month or two before the present. Marluxia had spoken of Xion as though she were a "doll" or sorts – a marionette largely devoid of emotion, and who acted only when the puppeteer (supposedly Xemnas) pulled her strings.

Naruto's eyes narrowed in hatred – a habit he'd picked up from Marluxia – as he thought of the "Guide to the Interstice". This was Naruto's last mission for a while, and he had considered trying to locate and befriend Xion during his free time. He wasn't sure of a plan yet, but he still intended to do it. From what he knew of Xemnas (which wasn't much, and he knew that, but he still understood that **most** reputations had some basis in fact), the man was a completely manipulative bastard with no empathy at all for his underlings.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, Naruto brought his mind back to the matter at hand. His mission, at its simplest, was to "harvest" the hearts of people so that the Fell Herald could use the emotional and spiritual energy of those hearts to augment his own power. Another, even simpler way of looking at it was that he needed to kill people and use their souls to grow stronger.

Normally, when a Heart is released by the Keyblade, that Heart returns to Kingdom Hearts. But when Marluxia had imbued the Fell Herald with the power to release Hearts, he was also able to redirect the destination of that energy – namely, into the Heart of the wielder. In this way, whenever Naruto killed a human _or_ a Heartless, the power of their Heart and Soul flowed into Naruto's, increasing his physical and magical power. Once he eventually slew those bastards on his birth world, he would be as powerful as any member of Organization XIII.

At first, Naruto hadn't been happy about the entire "kill-people-for-power plan" until Larxene, thinking outside the box like she often did, suggested, "I understand that you don't want to hurt innocent people, baby, I know _**I**_ wouldn't in your position, but just because we need people to die doesn't mean that they have to be _good_ people, right? I guess what I'm saying is this: remember the example of the bastard who tried to remove the little boy's dominant eye? Well, if you could find people like that bozo, then why not kill _them_? I mean, it's not as if monsters like that are going to be missed or anything, right? So if society is better off without them, then why not put these (using the term very loosely) people to a good use?"

Naruto had had to admit that while she _was_ speaking rather casually about what most people would call murder, the things she said made _**sense**_ as much as anything he'd ever heard. But, just to make him feel better about it, Larxene had accompanied him on his very first mission, taught him the ropes. When she took him to Hueco Mundo/Karakura Town/Soul Society (three separate worlds that all occupied the same spatial coordinates, except that they were in different Realms) for the first time, she simply showed him the various types of monstrous people that could be found there, or in any other world, for that matter: murderers, rapists, thieves, and so on. She let him watch the horrors they caused, but she wouldn't let him interfere yet: she wanted to show him that world's worst type of monster.

The Arrancar: monsters born of partially corrupted souls that were worse than Hollows, and which lived by consuming the souls of others. One of them, called Grimjow, was a relentless monster who murdered and devoured innocent people for no other reason than because he felt like it. Larxene wasn't too happy about it either, but she held back and made Naruto watch as Grimjow continued his murderous feasting.

But when the bastard was about to consume a little girl, Naruto snapped. He screamed and drew a scythe that Marluxia had made for him – a scythe with the heart-releasing powers of the Keyblade, and which he called the Fell Herald. The gluttonous fiend was fairly surprised and a bit afraid of the alarming ferocity of Naruto's assault. Larxene, although concerned for Naruto's well-being, refused to intervene, because she knew that Naruto needed to prove himself – not just as a warrior to Larxene and Marluxia – but also _to_ himself as someone who could destroy monsters and protect mankind from itself.

Naruto had called upon all of the hatred and anger in his heart and imbued his scythe with it, unleashing a shockwave of such destructive power that it not only destroyed the Arrancar, but also wiped out nearly a square mile of land. Since then, Naruto hadn't been welcome there, but he wasn't openly shunned either.

And Naruto had taken to harvesting the heart-souls of monsters like a fish to water. He'd done a bit more work there, made friends in Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki (Naruto kept wondering when they'd quit playing around and hook up) and had helped them finish off more of the Arrancar, particularly the Espada. While Naruto hadn't been able to unleash the power that slew Grimjow again – and therefore would've been outclassed by almost any of the Arrancar one-on-one – when working together with Ichigo, the two had made a nearly unstoppable team. After all, between Ichigo's terrifying strength and speed, and the efficiency of Naruto's Thunder-elemental magic, who could ever stand the ghost of a chance?

Since then, Naruto had also gone to Amestris to harvest a couple of homunculi, slain an army of demons in the Feudal Era (but had also gotten royally pissed off and killed some ditzy priestess wannabe. InuYasha had been rather understanding about it, though, since she _was_ extraordinarily annoying), and temporarily helped a New York vigilante called Rorschach clean up the streets. The last had truly been a kindred spirit with a somewhat similar past, but Naruto didn't want to become a total psychopath like Rorschach (real name Walter Kovacs) had. To this end, Naruto had steadily begun keeping a watch on his actions, making certain only to kill those who had no chance of redemption. After all, as another hero of that world, called Doctor Manhattan, had once quoted to him, "When battling with monsters, take care lest you become a monster. And if you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."

Naruto was shaken from these musings by someone's voice. "It isn't safe here on such **moonlit** nights. Ginsei City has the highest disappearance rate in the country, you know."

Stopping dead in his tracks, Naruto turned and asked, "No, I didn't know that. But then, what are _you_ doing down these mean streets?"

The man, who had a yellow crescent-shaped head, said, "I'm just taking a **moonlit** stroll. Yourself?"

Naruto grinned in reply: "I'm running errands for my masters. "I'm _hunting around_ for something, if you must know. But then, I'm not familiar with this place, and as you might deduce from my scythe, I'm no more than a simple farmer."

Naruto knew that the other person was hiding something, while the man knew Naruto to be lying. Revealing a metallic hexagon of some sort, he asked, "Well since we each know that the other isn't telling the entire truth, and I can't have any witnesses to my being here, I'll just have to devour you now. **Moon.**"

Naruto did a double-take at that. This bozo was going to _eat_ him? Naruto pulled out his scythe and said, "It seems I've found my prey. I'd be willing to wager that this town has such a high disappearance rate because of people like you. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. And I'm going to cut you down like a stalk of wheat."

Grinning at Naruto, the other man held up his hexagon and shouted, **"Buso Renkin: Satellite 30!"** The hexagon turned into a crescent, before the increasingly strange man somehow created 29 perfect copies of himself, but each had a head that was shaped differently.

He then introduced himself, "I am called Moonface, and I'm going to consume you within the hour. Don't take it personally, though. You were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, **moon**."

Smirking at the prospect of a challenge, Naruto replied/taunted, "Famous last words, you moon-fetish freak."

Naruto subconsciously translated 'Buso Renkin' as meaning 'armored alchemist'. And this guy clearly wasn't human, so that must mean…

"You're a homunculus, right? I've killed some o' you hobos before, and I'll harvest all 30 of you here and now."

One of the Moonface duplicates said, "Well since your weapon isn't a Buso Renkin, you must mean the homunculi from Amestris." Another continued, "You see, I used to be a human from that world, but then was stranded here via a Corridor of Darkness. Since then, I've become this world's version of a humanoid homunculus – an alchemical powerhouse that can only be destroyed by a Buso Renkin!"

Naruto grimaced – he hadn't expected that there could be different types of homunculi on different worlds, but then wondered why it surprised him. After all, Marluxia and Larxene were pretty much a different variety of ninja from what was normally found on his birth world (Naruto HATED calling it his "home world"), and so was that Ryu Hayabusa character he'd heard of. Even the infamous Assassins, Altaïr ibn la-Ahad and Ezio Auditore da Firenze, could be considered a type of Western ninja.

Growling at himself for having gotten distracted, Naruto tried to come up with a strategy. _The homunculi on this world can only be destroyed by a Buso Renkin. This lunatic – hey, now _there's_ a pun – has one. If I can somehow take it from him, then I should be able to annihilate this psychopath._

"**Moon**? Thinking of taking my Buso Renkin from me, are you?"

Naruto's eyes widened, accidentally giving away that Moonface had guessed correctly. The yellow-headed freak smiled even wider as all of his copies raised their hand, showing that they all had a Buso Renkin. As the blonde's eye twitched in irritation, he simply vanished for a moment, knocking away a pair of copies with a flourish of his scythe. "My Fell Herald scythe has shown alchemical properties before, so perhaps it can vanquish _you_ as well."

Then with another flourish of the Fell Herald, Naruto picked up the 'full Moonface' and threw him into another trio of them, creating a shockwave at the same time, which heavily injured a few of the creepy freaks.

Then, in the middle of the fight, there was suddenly a golden brilliance as another voice shouted, **"Buso Renkin of the Lance: Sunlight Heart! Energy at full power! Sunlight Slasher!"**

A fifteen-year-old boy in a red jacket rushed through the crowd of Moonface clones, outright killing several of them. Then, a girl in some kind of school uniform leaped into action from the rooftops and impaled another pair of them with death scythes attached to her legs. Naruto quickly noted that she must also be using a Buso Renkin, since she'd been able to slay some clones.

Moonface began to panic. While he could easily take on any one of them, the lancer and the girl had Buso Renkin. And while the stranger didn't have one, he was also far stronger and faster than they were. If they had an extra Kakugane on them, then he was completely screwed.

But then he remembered that he could endlessly regenerate his clones, and that in any case he had them outnumbered ten-to-one. Bearing this in mind, Moonface rushed the three humans.

Naruto said, "Hey! You with the lance! If you want to live, let me borrow that for a minute so I can ice these freaks!"

The girl said, "Kazuki can't lend you his weapon or he'll die, but you can borrow _this_!" With this, the girl leapt into the air once again, and tossed a Kakugane at Naruto. Then, said blonde caught it in mid-air and yelled, **"Buso Renkin, Appear!"**

The Kakugane activated, and it transformed into a massive double-bladed axe. This axe had large, polygonal (as if the Kakugane had become super-sized and extended the sides), non-reflective blades, with several lightning-like grooves along the handle, as though it were some sort of electric super-conductor. The weapon was at least twice as heavy as the Fell Herald, but it also felt like it belonged in his hand, as though he were destined to wield this power. The huge crushing-and-slashing implement crackled with lightning as red as blood. Deciding to name it on the fly, Naruto, raised the axe in conjunction with his scythe, and shouted, **"Thunderous Bane!"**

Slamming both weapons on the ground, Naruto funneled his electrical power into the axe, at the same time as charging the scythe with his flaming energy (actually the Nine-Tailed chakra), and thus caused the eruption of several high-voltage and high-temperature fire-lightning geysers, which either severely injured or instantly vaporized all of the Moonface clones on the spot. Seeing the total carnage it wrought, he decided to call this attack "Firestorm".

Moonface, soon to perish in a thunderous vortex, shouted "**MOOON**!!!!" as his death cry.

Once the original died, the Satellite 30 deactivated, thus causing all of the clones to disappear as well. Naruto banished the Fell Herald, and the Thunderous Bane reverted into a Kakugane. The girl, though, kept her weapons at the ready, and she asked who the blonde was.

With an exaggerated bow, he introduced himself: "They call me Naruto Uzumaki, and I am a hunter of sorts. That is to say, I track down and harvest the monsters that plague mankind. Monsters like the one we just fought, for instance. And what might your names be?"

The girl put her Valkyrie Skirt on Standby Mode as she introduced herself, "I'm Tokiko Tsumura, an Alchemist warrior. Normally, I wouldn't trust you with knowledge like that, but you're already involved, so…"

Then the lance-user introduced himself, "And my name is Kazuki Muto. I'm not an Alchemist warrior yet, but I'm getting there."

Naruto nodded and shook hands with Kazuki and Tokiko, before the latter's cell phone rang.

Answering it immediately, Tokiko said, "Warrior Chief? Kazuki and I were looking for clues when we stumbled on a fight between Moonface and someone we don't know much about. He's evidently not an Alchemist warrior, but he isn't a civilian based on his combat skills, and he isn't a homunculus either, since Moonface was going to try and eat him. After loaning the stranger, Naruto, a spare Kakugane, he created some type of axe Buso Renkin and destroyed Moonface in one hit. Please advise."

After a moment or two, Tokiko told Naruto to follow her. "The Warrior Chief wants to speak with you."

With a slight bow, Naruto agreed, but re-summoned the Fell Herald and slung it over his back. Rule number one of traveling the Worlds: Always take your weapons when you're going to meet someone whom their underlings call "Warrior Chief."

Tokiko, after reactivating her Valkyrie Skirt, used the actuators to climb to the rooftops much like a spider, while Naruto simply leapt to the sky before using an "aerial dodge" to jump in mid-air over to where Tokiko was. Kazuki wasn't able to scale buildings or make fantastic leaps without building up some serious inertia with the Sunlight Heart's energy, so he simply followed the pair on the ground.

Even though he didn't know her personally, Naruto had to concede that Tokiko Tsumura had true grace to her movements. Watching the spider-like speed and agility with which she headed to her destination, Naruto admitted to himself that he wouldn't really want her as an opponent. The boy, Kazuki, looked like he might be stronger, but he definitely didn't have the skill to match Naruto… not yet, at any rate. And if he ever had to fight the pair as a team, well… he would eventually be strong enough that it wouldn't matter, but for now, he didn't relish the thought.

Shaking himself out of his musings, Naruto simply focused on following the Alchemist Warrior to their destination.

_A few minutes later…_

Naruto was in what looked like a room of a high school dormitory, with Tokiko leaning against a wall, Kazuki sitting on a chair, and a tall man in a silver overcoat with silver gloves and a silver hat – supposedly the "Warrior Chief". Even through the coat, Naruto could tell that the man was quite muscular… and if he was experienced as his title and aura seemed to indicate, then Naruto would stand almost zero chance against him in combat.

Tokiko handled the introductions. "Warrior Chief, this is Naruto Uzumaki, who killed Moonface after I lent him a Kakugane. Naruto Uzumaki, this is the Warrior Chief, our commanding officer."

The Warrior Chief gave Naruto a thumbs-up and spoke in a voice filled with enthusiasm: "So you took out Moonface, eh? Bravo, Naruto Uzumaki! I applaud your success! At the same time, however, I have to admit that I'm curious about your presence here. The very fact that you know about Homunculi gives us cause for worry. Therefore, I'd like to ask you a few questions, if I may."

Naruto shrugged and said, "Only if I can ask you a few questions first. #1: So long as I vow not to use it against you or others of your organization, can I keep the… Kakugane? And #2: Does that getup serve a purpose, or do you only wear it because it looks cool?"

Warrior Chief laughed out loud and said, "We'll see about the Kakugane later, but with regards to my outfit, bravo! You've seen Kazuki's and Tokiko's Buso Renkin, and while this outfit certainly looks cool, it is also my own Buso Renkin, the Silver Skin! Just try to hit me, and you'll see what it does."

Naruto noted that according to Moonface, only a Buso Renkin could destroy Homunculi. Therefore, he assumed, it might require alchemy to damage a Buso Renkin. Bearing this in mind, he pulled out his Kakugane and said, **"Buso Renkin of the Axe: Thunderous Bane!"**

The alchemically-powered axe appeared once again, and since he didn't want to kill or cause mass destruction yet, he neglected to power it up. Nevertheless, he swung at the Warrior Chief with all his might, and was only somewhat surprised to see the Silver Skin stop it in its tracks.

The silver overcoat had, around the area in which Naruto had struck it, transformed into some sort of plate armor that looked like countless miniature Kakugane. Withdrawing the weapon, Naruto had it return to its original state as he watched the miniscule damage to the Silver Skin instantly repair itself.

Warrior Chief seemed to grin as he said, "That's the power of my Metal Jacket-type Buso Renkin, the Silver Skin. It hardens whenever something strikes it, and it automatically repairs any damage it sustains. Now then, if you want to keep that Kakugane, you'll have to explain why. You need to tell us what you intend to use it for. If I decide to let you keep it, then I'm going to explain numerous properties of the Kakugane and the Buso Renkin. Do you accept these conditions?"

Naruto wasn't very skilled with it yet, but he already liked his axe a fair bit, so he said, "Yeah, that's fair enough. The Kakugane probably has other powers I don't know about, but I mainly want it for the Buso Renkin. The reasons are I want it are twofold: one, so I can protect the people close to me from my enemies – a list that seems to grow just as quickly as my friends – and two, so I can achieve my dream. I won't tell you what it is yet, but I'm not strong enough to realize it yet. The Buso Renkin won't make me powerful immediately; I understand that I'll need time and training to master it completely, if I ever manage that, but it will certainly help."

Warrior Chief waved Kazuki and Tokiko over to him – while the decision was technically his to make alone, he still appreciated the input of his two subordinates. He also wanted to see how well they'd been paying attention. Tokiko said, "I'll be frank, Warrior Chief, I don't really trust him. Yeah, he helped us out by killing Moonface, but we have no way to know if he's telling the truth."

Kazuki, however, said, "Well, I don't think he's lying to us. I mean think about it: he doesn't really have any reason to. Yeah, he might get the Kakugane, but if he tried stealing it, he'd fail. He saw for himself that pretty much nothing can stop Captain Bravo, so he knows he wouldn't be able to get away, no matter how fast he is."

Warrior Chief, also now called Captain Bravo, said, "Bravo you two, you each brought up an excellent point. However, I've secretly been using my Bravo Vision and looking into his heart. I can say with absolute certainty that he isn't lying."

Then, turning back to Naruto, Captain Bravo said, "I'll let you have the Kakugane on two conditions: 1) we must be able to contact you for assistance at any time, and 2) You must pass a brief examination to be qualified as an Alchemist Warrior. As it is, we can only afford to let other Alchemist Warriors have them. If you accept the exam, then it's basically to see what you're capable of, how you handle yourself in battle."

Naruto nodded, before he produced a small spherical device that fit perfectly in the palm of his hand **(it looks like the Materia in FF7: Advent Children)**. "You can use this to contact me, Warrior Chief. Just charge it with a little energy – whatever's easy at the moment: heat, electricity, etc. – and it will summon me to lend you a hand or take that exam whenever you need me, unless I'm already fighting for my life. Whenever you've got that test of yours ready, just call."

Warrior Chief took the orb and nodded, saying, "Warrior Chief is more of a title than anything else, and I don't make people use it. If you want to, then call me Captain Bravo."

Smirking, Naruto asked, "Changing an alias for an alias, eh? Why not just tell me your real name?"

Captain Bravo chuckled once again as he deactivated the Silver Skin, before striking an admittedly cool pose and saying, "Bravo, Naruto Uzumaki! I never tell anyone my real name because… it's just cooler that way."

Naruto froze a moment to process that, before laughing out loud. He slapped Bravo on the back before saying, "I once met a guy kind of like you, a master of martial arts, but you're definitely way cooler than he was. Come to think of it, I seem to remember that that guy's last name was actually **Guy**, if you believe it."

Then, turning to Kazuki and Tokiko, he made one parting joke: "And as for you two: if you can't be good, at least be good at it, _if you know what I mean_."

With that, he leapt out the window as he witnessed both of the young lovers-to-be blush, before using the Fell Herald to slash open a Corridor of Darkness, falling through time and space to his next destination.

When he landed right outside the massive doors of Castle Oblivion, he said, "Damn, I _love_ dramatic exits."

He put a hand on the door – easily fifty times his size, and at least a hundred times his weight – and applied a slight pressure, causing it to open.

Naruto knew better than to call out his presence – Marluxia or Larxene would indicate they knew of his presence soon enough.

And yet, after five minutes, of ascending the Castle, he found no indication that they were even present. As a result, Naruto realized that, in fact, they _weren't_.

Bearing this thought in mind, and also that he should have a few weeks off by now, he slashed open a Corridor of Darkness to a place where he could _really_ test his skills: a world called Hanging Neck Island, where there was a unique sporting event in progress. Something called the Dark Tournament.

But first, Naruto needed an ally… a comrade-in-arms who wouldn't betray him, but also would be willing to question his judgment if that's what was necessary. So, going to Vexen's laboratory in the basements of Castle Oblivion, he opened the door using Marluxia's entrance code, and then accessed the computer.

Searching through the unprotected files, Naruto finally found what he was looking for: data from the old Replica program. Grinning as he found data concerning some powerful swordsmen, before he chose to copy/paste the relevant information, before deciding to edit it a little.

He used bits and pieces of data from Samurai and Berserker Nobodies, as well as some from Xehanort's Heartless, but primarily from the first Replica: Riku.

As the Replication Chamber cleared of mist, a man fell out of the machine. He was dressed in a dark green, blue, and red version of Riku's standard attire, and had a strange look in his eye as he asked, "If you made me as a pawn in some sort of experiment, I'll gut you where you stand."

Naruto just laughed it off as he said, "Not as a test subject, no. I made you because I need your help. I'll be entering a tournament soon, and the preliminary rounds require a team of at least two. I thought that I could make a new friend along the way, if you'll pardon my pun."

The Riku Replica started laughing as he asked, "So you made me to fight, eh? Well it just happens that I'm itching for some major violence right about now, so I guess we're even. So let's get over there and bust open some heads, alright?"

Naruto now realized that he'd made an adrenaline junkie. He then smirked, because that was all right with him.

Slashing open a Corridor of Darkness with the Fell Herald, Naruto and his new ally stepped through to one of the very few worlds in the Realm of Darkness.

In the Castle That Never Was, a young woman summoned a Keyblade in order to parry her opponent's horizontal slash. Xion understood quite well that she was pretty much the weakest member of Organization XIII, and since she wanted to be able to help Axel and Roxas in combat, she didn't complain about the near-constant training she had to endure.

But seriously, she wasn't anywhere _near_ being ready to spar with **Saïx**! Still, everyone else was either on missions or simply refused to spar with her, so Saïx had been the only way she could get any training done today.

Xion grimaced as she deflected yet another of her foe's brutal and relentless attacks. She didn't have enough strength to just block, because it still meant taking the full force of the blow, and that would undoubtedly break her arm… if she was lucky.

And then Xion gasped as she felt her back against the wall. She didn't have enough room to evade, nowhere to run. Saïx noticed as well, and came rushing at her with full force. She was as good as dead unless she came up with a brilliant plan on the spot, and they both knew it.

Xion quickly ran through her options: she couldn't run or defend, so her only choice was to attack.

Grinning at the thought of how insane that sounded in her mind, Xion gripped her Keyblade all the harder and ran straight at the Luna Diviner, imbuing her weapon with Light as she attempted to hit him with an overhead slash.

Xion's entire body was enveloped in a thin veil of Light (not that she could tell), and miraculously, when the blades clashed, the Kingdom Key was actually able to force back the Relentless. Pressing her momentary advantage over the shocked scar-face, Xion continued to attack her opponent, shouting, "You won't kill me! I WON'T LET YOU!!"

Now _everyone_ in the room was staring, watching in alarm as Xion let fly a relentless assault and, as a few of them noted, this newfound power was beginning to piss off Saïx.

Just as the Luna Diviner was about to go berserk (which, ultimately, would've guaranteed Xion's demise), Marluxia stepped in and, in an amazing display of speed and agility, was able to stop both the Relentless and the Kingdom Key with his Full Bloom.

With his next move, he threw each of the combatants into a wall, and went to hold Saïx still, creating a petal clone to do the same for Xion. After they had both managed to calm down a fair bit, Marluxia said, "You know, Xion, perhaps our current method of training you isn't working too well. I'm not surprised, really. Learning through experience in battle is all well and good; but quite frankly, I think you might learn more efficiently if you were actually _taught_. To that end, I suppose I'll do it myself. If, of course, you feel that it would be beneficial, that is."

Xigbar interjected, "Face it Marluxia, even if Xemnas were thinking along the same lines, he'd never agree to let _you_ teach her. He doesn't trust you enough. And, for that matter, neither do most of the others."

Marluxia, always one to seize an opportunity when it came along, said, "Then might this not be my chance to _earn_ that trust, hm?"

Xaldin had to admit that the Graceful Assassin had a point about this being an opportunity to earn the trust of his superiors, and also that Xion would probably learn more rapidly if someone were to personally tutor her…

Deciding that it couldn't really hurt to give him the benefit of the doubt, Xigbar said, "Well, as long as it doesn't interfere with getting things done, I guess I'll talk to Xemnas about it for you."

Dispelling his scythe and giving an exaggerated bow, Marluxia replied, "Very well, I shall humbly await our _Superior's_ decision on the matter of whether or not I shall train our youngest recruit. I do realize that he and I rarely see eye-to-eye, but perhaps we can come to a consensus on this, for the sake of the Organization, if for no other reason."

Just like that, Xigbar felt in his gut that Marluxia was planning something, but without any sort of proof, he couldn't do anything about it. So instead, he simply nodded, and disappeared into a Corridor of Darkness.

His face unreadable, and the room now essentially empty since Saïx had left once Marluxia released him, the Graceful Assassin turned to Xion and asked, "Now that that's over with, where do you think we should start?"

Xion, confused, asked, "But didn't you just say that you were going to wait for Xemnas's opinion before you started teaching me?"

Marluxia laughed away her concern as he answered, "I said I would wait before I started _training_ you. I think that in the meantime, you still might be able to learn a few things. Thus, until Xemnas approves, I will only be _teaching_ you. Follow?"

Xion raised an eyebrow at the obvious loophole Marluxia was exploiting, but nodded. Marluxia was still a neophyte with practically no seniority, but everyone – even Vexen – had to admit that he was brilliant in his own way. Marluxia, exploiting some of that brilliance, suggested, "Since you had trouble fighting Saïx, I suppose I'll start with methods of fighting an opponent with superior strength."

For the next few minutes, Marluxia went into a brief lecture, making references to physics here and there, but mainly talking about what he called force. He explained that, more often than not, a person would only be able to cancel out an opposing force by exerting force of equal or greater amount. To apply it to the goal: to block an attack, you must either be able to withstand the force that the opponent is exerting, or else counterattack with at least the same amount of force. Xion said that, without getting lucky like she did earlier and unleashing Light, she wasn't strong enough to do either.

So Marluxia said that she lacked sufficient force to cancel out an opposing force. However, he also explained that more often than not, it requires much less energy to redirect a given amount of force than to cancel it out. Then, applying it to the goal once more, he said, "You're not strong enough to simply block an attack from someone much stronger than you are, but if you keep your wits about you, then you _can_ deflect the attack and make it miss… or keep it from hitting a vital area."

Xion decided that even though Marluxia gave her the creeps, he _was_ an excellent teacher. He patiently answered any questions she might have, and took the time to explain anything that his student didn't understand. He didn't simply tell her what worked and what didn't, he explained _why_ certain tactics worked and why some didn't. He said that the best thing to do when fighting Zexion, for instance, was to just fight him head-on, because any attempts at a sneak attack from behind were doomed to failure, and because if you could get in close, there was a chance of defeating him before he could completely destroy your mind with his illusions.

He also explained that while fighting someone like Lexaeus, you had to stay at a long distance, because if he got you in his reach, it was pretty much over, considering how strong he was.

In this way, Marluxia gave numerous examples of different types of opponents, and explained why any given strategy would or wouldn't work against them.

The two Nobodies were so caught up in their discussion that neither of them noticed the Corridor of Darkness until a foreboding, monotone voice asked, "And what should she do if she were to fight someone like you or I, Marluxia?"

Numbers XI and XIV were instantly frozen for a moment, before Marluxia shook it off and said, "I've never actually fought you before, Superior, so I can't honestly say what would or wouldn't be effective. And since I'm hardly inclined to give information that would lead to my own defeat, I will simply say that someone of Xion's current power and experience should, if confronted with either of us, attempt to flee. After all, there _are_ times when discretion is the better part of valor."

Xemnas chuckled mirthlessly as he said, "So you would run away from a fight in the name of self-preservation, Marluxia? I'm not sure I can allow your prospective student to learn such cowardice."

Marluxia had to stifle a glare; he forced himself to endure the insult to his pride as he turned to face Xemnas completely and replied, "You don't understand. If I die, then it's over. If I flee to stay alive, then I can become more powerful and gain vengeance. Survival is everything, after all. If I can't exist, then I must insist on living. But if you want a fight, then I'm more than willing to oblige you – for academic purposes only, of course."

When dealing with someone like Xemnas, you had to be very careful to cover your tracks. The Guide to the Interstice dismissed his underling's veiled challenge and said, "If you really think you can improve Xion's skill more rapidly than we've been doing, then I won't prevent it. Bear in mind, Marluxia, that I will be keeping a very close eye on you. And if I see even the slightest evidence of treason, I'll deal with you myself."

The Number I then disappeared into a Corridor of Darkness. Quiet reigned for a few minutes, before Xion attempted to break the awkward silence by saying, "I think that went rather well, don't you?"

**My computer has a virus that keeps me off the net, so it's almost impossible to update this. But, to tide you over for a while once I DO get it up, (also because I'll be working on another Digimon fic for Lord Pata next, possibly followed by a FFXIII fic) I wrote one of my longest chapters ever FOR ANY OF MY STORIES. Seriously, this is about twice as long as any other solo chapter I've EVER written (even if you split it into the original two, each one is STILL longer than my average). Give me some credit for that at least! Also, I've given an overview of what our Harvester has been doing for the last few weeks, (he'll return to the Bleach world later on) gave Naruto a new weapon, and quite possibly made the first Kingdom Hearts/Buso Renkin crossover chapter in history, not to mention the first Naruto/Buso Renkin crossover around. (Definitely the first as far as I know!)**

**Not to mention that I introduced Xion, and have thus officially begun fucking up the timeline. Just for future reference, here are the primary changes to Kingdom Hearts continuity in this story. During the events of Re:Chain/CoM, Sora was able to defeat Larxene a second time, but not destroy her. However, he was unable to defeat Marluxia's "Seraph Form" (the final form in Re:Chain that has the "Doom" Sleight). Marluxia decided that Sora hadn't been powerful enough to be of much use, so he still put him in the memory restoration chamber and had Naminé begin fixing the Keybearer's screwed-up mind. Axel only appeared to kill Vexen to keep him from talking, but really just made him flee (Sora wasn't able to tell the difference). Riku encountered Zexion and Lexaeus, but didn't kill them: Lexaeus miraculously survived an Ansem-possessed Riku nearly killing him, and Zexion was able to use a Corridor of Darkness to escape before Riku killed him, and he also had enough strength remaining to destroy the original Replica.**

**The events of **_**358/2 Days**_** begin AFTER Riku defeats Ansem (for the time being) and leaves Castle Oblivion with King Mickey. Xion joins about a month after Roxas. Marluxia and Larxene find and begin training Naruto when he's about eight and a half. This chapter begins sometime when he's fourteen, and Roxas and Xion are the same age, as are Sora, Kairi, and Naminé. (BTW, Marluxia is in his early twenties)**

**Xion has been with Organization XIII for about three months now. (Insert numerous "Exterminate the Heartless!"-type missions and character development here.) Xion's epic battle with Roxas will probably occur somewhere around chapter five, and I'll find a way to have Xion encounter Naruto in the next chapter.**


	3. A Meeting of the Minds

Harvester of Sorrow

_The Wager_

**I especially want to thank PinkAznFuzzy (I can't remember your name exactly, but it's close, and you know who you are!), who literally reviewed this in essay format and brought up several excellent points, which I answered for him in a reply. There are a few other reviewers I would like to thank, but whom I can't remember at the moment. I shall endeavor to give them the proper recognition they deserve soon enough.**

**Until then, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, ESSAY REVIEWERS!**

**Having gotten all of this off my chest, let's observe our Harvester of Sorrow, shall we?**

**Also, I'm introducing two more major players in this chapter. One of them, you can probably guess already. The other, well… I'd be alarmed if you could. The second person's identity won't be revealed for a long while though, and quite frankly, if you can guess his identity, then I don't want you spoiling it for everyone else. Finally, for some of the scenes that have background music, I'm going to say so immediately before, and provide such in-story notes via this "coding":**

**/ type of scene goes here; "Fight Scene", "Romance Scene – or facsimile thereof", etc. / insert music here; if I don't know the title and/or artist, I'll provide the movie/game/whatever I got it from, and the scene in which it was used \\\**

**And to signify the end of that scene, I'll use this:**

**\\\ Scene End. Generic background music from here until the next scene where I say otherwise. / **

Marluxia was watching the games in Olympus Coliseum, observing how the crowd favorite, Hercules, won every single battle, the majority of which were against monsters that Hades had created, or small-time mercenaries. No one around was able to defeat Hercules, or even tie with him. The man was certainly strong, but he had nowhere _near_ as much power as a member of Organization XIII, or even as much as Naruto. Xion might struggle for the time being, but she was growing at a steady rate.

That thought gave him an idea. After Hercules had won the tournament (as everyone had planned on), Marluxia followed him to what passed for the locker room. Just as the champion was about to start cooling down, his manager/trainer, Philoctetes (better known as Phil), noticed the Graceful Assassin and demanded, "Hey, what are you doin' here? This room here is for heroes only!"

Marluxia chuckled a bit and said, "I was simply wondering how I might issue a challenge to your so-called 'hero,' that's all."

Phil, all business now (not to mention interested), asked, "What kind of a challenge? If you want to fight Herc, just sign up for the next tournament."

Marluxia laughed a little and replied, "Let me clarify: I've trained some students as well, and my challenge is that my two pupils, working as a team, can defeat Hercules and any one other 'hero' that you've trained. My only conditions are these: if you accept, then we each must have one month to teach our respective students more about teamwork. This time can also be used to set the stage for the appropriate tournament. Also, your other competitor must be someone that you've trained personally. And finally, we must settle on a bet over the outcome, but we can discuss that later. Are we agreed?"

After a few moments of thought, and of talking it over with Hercules, the quote-unquote "hero" stood up and said, "Very well then, we accept your challenge, and I'll see your students in one month."

As Hercules held out his hand, Marluxia decided that he might as well shake it, and said, "Yes. In one month, we shall see who's the better teacher…"

As Marluxia exited the building, he opened a Corridor of Darkness to his quarters in Castle Oblivion, where he then pulled out a pair of orbs, and sent some magic into each.

_Hanging Neck Island, same time…_

As Naruto and the second Riku Replica – who had, for registration and identification purposes, begun calling himself Neo – destroyed an undead pirate called Cervantes, Naruto felt a pulling sensation at the base of his skull. He'd just finished the qualification rounds of the Dark Tournament, and since the main event wouldn't start for another few months, he figured that he had more than enough time to deal with whatever Marluxia wanted.

Naruto told Neo, "See if you can recruit any other good fighters for our team. My main requirements are that they won't betray us, and they must be able to fight you head-to-head and last for at least five minutes." Slashing open a door through time and space with the Fell Herald, he obeyed his master's summoning.

_Meanwhile, at The World that Never Was…_

Xion had only just begun learning how to open Corridors of Darkness a few days ago, and just as she was about to go from the training room to sickbay to see whether she'd gotten the hang of it yet, she noticed an odd feeling at the base of her skull. Realizing that Marluxia wanted her for something, she opened a Corridor of Darkness in the general direction of the pull.

Marluxia smirked a bit when a Corridor of Darkness opened a little to his left, as his first student, Naruto, appeared. He said, "You called?"

"Yes, Naruto, I did. But we'll wait a few moments, since you're not the only one."

For a moment, the younger scythe-user was confused, before another Corridor of Darkness opened a few feet above the ground, and a dark-haired girl fell out. Reacting quickly, Naruto was able to catch her bridal-style before she hit the ground, and then, before she could say anything, he gently put her back down and asked, "I assume that you're a rookie with the Corridors?"

The girl replied, "Yeah, I'm still not too used to it yet. Thanks for catching me, by the way. My name is Xion, and you are…?"

Realizing that this was the Xion Marluxia kept raving about (to use a major exaggeration, of course), Naruto flourished his scythe and bowed, before introducing himself. "I am Marluxia's first student, Naruto Uzumaki, though I am also known as the Thunder Reaper, as well as Turanox and the 'Harvester of Sorrow'. I'm quite pleased to make your acquaintance, Xion-chan."

Somewhat confused by the suffix, Xion murmured, "I'm not sure what –chan is, but I'm guessing it's a compliment…"

Naruto (who, in reality, knew _exactly_ what he was doing) said, "My apologies. On my birth world, it's customary to use honorifics such as _-chan_, _-san_, _-sama_, _-sensei_, etc. The _–chan_ honorific is most commonly used as a term of familiarity when referring to someone who is either feminine, small, or both; i.e., a woman or young child. I spoke without thinking, Xion. After all, where I come from, using _–chan_ the way I did about someone I've just met, well… some would consider that to be sexual harassment."

Xion blushed a little before saying, "No, no, don't worry about it, that's perfectly fine. If you didn't mean to insult/harass me, then I'm not. While it would probably be better to get more used to each other before we start throwing honorifics around, I guess I wouldn't mind it if you called me _–chan_. But then, what's the male equivalent?"

Grinning like the Cheshire Cat on the inside, Naruto knew that he'd found a way into Xion's confidence, however slightly. He knew that Marluxia simply wanted assurance that she wouldn't end up loyal to Xemnas – it was always a bad idea to fight a Keyblade Master (i.e. Roxas) without one on _your_ side, he'd learned that lesson the hard way. Naruto himself, however, found himself admittedly charmed by the young woman he'd caught just minutes ago. She – as far as first impressions went, of course – was kind, considerate, and was certainly willing to tolerate the gaffs of other people, or at least to an extent. She also appeared to be much more upbeat than he was; an excellent… dramatic foil, if no better term could be found.

Trying to be as nonchalant as possible, Naruto replied, "The equivalent male honorific would be the _–kun_ suffix, but since I've been trying to distance myself from my birth world, I suppose it might be better to simply drop the matter as a whole, eh?"

The truth was that Naruto absolutely _hated_ his birth world with a passion Marluxia had rarely seen before, but the Harvester of Sorrow was certainly willing to make a slight concession to The Elemental Continent (as that world was called) if it helped Marluxia. And as was patently clear to Naruto, helping Marluxia ultimately meant helping himself.

Xion instinctively knew that Naruto was teasing her a bit, so she replied, "Whatever you say, Naruto-_kun_. Before we continue further, though, I think our teacher's getting a little impatient to begin."

As Naruto gave a small bow in acquiescence, Marluxia calmly said, "Actually, it's quite good to see you two getting along so well, and so quickly at that. After all, for the next month, I'll be teaching you about how to effectively work as a team – with each other, to start with, and eventually, with other people. I don't just mean cooperating with your allies in battle, but ceasing to fight as a group of individuals and beginning to engage the enemy as a single unit. Metaphorically speaking, think of a dragon as the enemy, and think of yourselves as a stream of water and a burst of wind. Neither of you are really a threat to the dragon alone, but if you work together, you can destroy it utterly. First, the wind can carry the water into the sky, creating a rainstorm, thus soaking the dragon thoroughly. Then, once it's good and drenched, the wind can freeze the water into ice. The dragon will soon freeze to death, because it's cold-blooded. Do you understand what I'm getting at?" **(1)**

Naruto ventured, "You're basically saying that even if neither Xion nor I are able to defeat a given enemy on our own, if we work together by combining our talents, information, and cooperating as a single unit, then…"

Xion finished his hypothesis, "Then we can pretty much take on anyone and anything, right?"

Marluxia chuckled a bit and said, "See? You're doing it now – you introduced yourselves, however slightly, and from what you were able to gather about each other in that short amount of time, you've already begun reading each other's intentions and are acting accordingly. At this rate, we can skip straight to the combat exercise. Now then, first off, I want the two of you to fight each other with everything you've got. Any and all magic and abilities are permitted, but only your most basic weapons. Xion, just the Kingdom Key; Naruto, only fight with the Fell Herald. You're not fighting to the death, but don't go easy on each other, either. I'd prefer that you both remained conscious for the entirety of the training session, if at all possible. This isn't a test to see which of you is stronger; in fact, I essentially want you two to show each other how you fight. This is the simplest way for you to get to know each other's methods and strategies. If you both know how the other fights independently, then you can better figure out how to fight alongside each other. You're just trying to see what your opponent is capable of."

Naruto and Xion both nodded, before Marluxia enveloped all three of them in a Corridor of Darkness, taking them to a massive hall on the thirteenth floor. **(2)**

As the pair of combatants summoned their weapons, Marluxia eyed his two students and made a brief mental appraisal. Naruto, wielding his Fell Herald scythe, stood with one foot in front of the other, the blunt edge of his weapon's blade resting upon the ground about fifteen inches behind him, and with the bottom of the shaft at nearly eye level. **(3) **The look in his eyes could intimidate nearly anyone the Graceful Assassin could think of – something that Marluxia had purposely taught the Harvester of Sorrow, since through inspiring fear and self-doubt in the enemy, the battle could be won even before lifting one's weapon.

Xion, however, matched her sparring opponent's slightly annoyed, but otherwise dead-looking glare with her own stare, her azure optics radiating boundless confidence and a fiery determination that had even Naruto impressed. **(4)** She held out the Kingdom Key directly in front of her, teeth pointed up. To provide a smaller target in case of a projectile attack, Xion was standing sideways, so that Naruto wouldn't be able to hit her broadside.

Deciding that both trainees were ready, Marluxia shouted "You have until one of you scores a decisive hit on your opponent, or until I stop you myself. Begin!"

**/ Fight Scene / Background music during the "Tifa vs. Loz" fight in **_**Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children**_** \\\**

As soon as the last word left his mentor's mouth, Naruto flipped over his scythe and rushed at Xion, dragging the Fell Herald's blade along the ground while simultaneously charging it with energy, making sparks fly in quantities that Xion hadn't previously witnessed from any similar attack. As he neared his target, the Harvester of Sorrow abruptly ceased running as he swung his weapon upward, before spinning it around once and attempting to cleave Xion in two as he shouted, **"Fell Divide!"**

Xion, however, was far from idle. The instant she realized what her opponent was doing, she ran full-tilt at him, reducing the amount of space he had to build up momentum and power. Once he prepared to slice her into nothingness, Xion waited until the last possible second before sidestepping it and bringing the blunt edge of the Kingdom Key to bear on the back of Naruto's head, where she gave him a good, solid _thwack_.

The force of Naruto's strike, however, still kept going until it hit the ground, at which point it formed a shallow crater two feet in diameter **(5)** and a thin scar in the floor four feet long in front of him. Xion leapt back as soon as she'd landed her hit, but not quickly enough to avoid the inevitable counterattack – because Naruto rebounded, using the impact of his weapon against the ground like a springboard, and in mid-jump delivered a yelp-inducing mule kick to her stomach.

The two combatants separated, Xion lightly massaging her gut, while Naruto gingerly rubbed the sore spot on the back of his noggin. _That's going to leave a bruise, I can tell. Note to self: the phrase "hit like a girl" is, no longer a valid insult, since girls can clearly hit pretty damn hard. And I'm not just talking about sadists like Larxene._

Xion's thoughts were along a similar line: _Jeez, even though he's restraining himself, that kick of his freaking HURT! I don't think I can take more than another couple of hits like that…_

But, since the match wasn't over yet, Xion went on the offensive, activating her Limit Break, shrouding herself and her Keyblade in Light. She then blurred into place immediately in front of Naruto, shouting, **"Event Horizon!"** as she brought the Kingdom Key down on her opponent.

The Harvester, however, was far from looking forward to taking an even more savage blow than before, so he rapidly brought up the Fell Herald to block it. Between Naruto's superior natural strength and Xion's Light-augmented abilities, the force of the parry knocked them both back a few feet, before they rushed at each other three more times, each ending with a similar result.

Xion's magical power was fading, though, and as her veil of Light vanished, Xion made a last-ditch attack, creating thirteen Light shields and having them converge on Naruto. The Harvester of Sorrow saw them coming, though, and raised an empty palm to the heavens as he shouted, **"Thundaga!"** thus calling down numerous bolts of lightning to intercept and destroy the shields. Then, his competitive nature slightly getting the better of him, Naruto rushed towards Xion, smacking her upside the head with the blunt edge of the Fell Herald, hitting so hard that she flew back a few feet, and the Number XIVsaw a few dozen canaries circling her head, at least one of which said something along the lines of "I tawt I taw a putty tat."

**\\\ Scene End. Generic background music from here until the next scene where I say otherwise. /**

Marluxia intervened at that point, casting a brief **Curaga** on each of his students, and allowing Xion a few moments to reorient herself. Then, he glanced at Naruto and asked, "You didn't hold back much on that last attack, aside from making certain not to cut her face open, did you?"

The fellow scythe-wielder replied, "Payback for thwacking me in the back of the head like she did earlier. I'll admit to going a bit overboard, so I'll let her get in a free hit next time around, if she wants. And if not, then I'll let Xion-chan come up with a different way to either get back at me or for me to express my apologies."

He had intentionally used the _–chan_ suffix again in an attempt to make Xion resume blushing, however slightly… and it worked. However, as her senses returned faster and faster, she replied, "Well, Naruto-_kun_, the fact that I'm going to get you back for that last attack of yours should go without saying, but that's not enough. What if I want you to, I don't know, take me on a date as payment too?"

For the first time since Larxene had started teaching him thunder-elemental magic about four years ago – and doing it the hard way (for him; for Larxene, it was the "fun way"…) at that – Naruto was caught completely off guard. So, for lack of any better ideas, he said: "If it's a night on the town you're looking for, then I shall provide. Tell me what you need, and I'll see that you get it, love."

Naruto finished with an over-exaggerated bow, and was barely able to say the word "love" with a straight face, but he pulled it off – and the look on Xion's face was absolutely priceless. She went red as a tomato and muttered a small "EEP!" before conjuring a Corridor of Darkness around herself and running to whereabouts unknown. After witnessing this reaction, Naruto muttered about how much he wished he'd had a camera with him, at which point Marluxia revealed a Polaroid with the very pictures on it that Naruto had wanted to take.

**Sorry this chapter's so damned short, but this seemed like the best place to end it, so it's really a two-parter. Also, I tried my hand at a KH/FFVII:AC-ish fight scene, which was short, but still practice. I also tried to get in some humor at the end, but whatever you do, PLEASE comment on the fight scene, and give me any ideas for Hercules's partner WITH AN EXPLANATION FOR IT, as the next chap will have a two-on-two fight featuring Naruto, Xion, Hercules, and another ancient Greek mythological hero that Philoctetes is said to have trained (at least according to the Disney movie, that is). Now for the notes, of which I have very many this chapter.**

**(1): Yes, Marluxia deliberately used the example of wind and water chakra combining into the ice element for this example. Yes, I know that any self-respecting dragon could probably keep itself warm, or even just fly/swim/otherwise travel to a warmer locale, or that it may be better equipped for the cold than the dragon I'm using here. Just roll with it, okay?**

**(2): This is the room where Sora fights with Marluxia's Final Form (Seraph/Angelic Form, as I call it) in **_**Re:Chain of Memories**_**. If you're not entirely sure which form I mean, it's the one with the "Omni Laser", "Gale of Severance", and "Doom" Sleights.**

**(3): Remember Zasalamel's fighting stance in **_**Soul Calibur 4**_**, even though his actual fighting style is much closer to Marluxia's.**

**(4): Naruto isn't such a "Determinator" as he is in the canonical anime/manga; his personality is more reminiscent of Vergil from the **_**Devil May Cry**_** series. If you're not sure what I mean by Determinator, go to and search for it.**

**(5): He **_**is**_** holding back; had he used full strength in that attack, the crater would've been about three times larger. Just for reference, though, Marluxia using the same technique at full strength would've made a crater ten times larger than that. And he's not trying to kill his girlfriend-to-be, but he really hates losing under any circumstances.**


	4. A Conclusion, of Sorts

Harvester of Sorrow

_Memo to the readers_

**This fic, under the current title, is now discontinued. Fret not, dear readers, because I'm re-writing it under the title "Absence of Justice", which should be much better than this story was. However, I **_**am**_** going to at least give you something to read for your trouble. I couldn't work out the date scene, but here's a rough draft of what would've been the next chapter had I finished it and not chosen to re-write it.**

_**Harvester of Sorrow**_

… "_Well, Naruto-kun, what if I want you to, I don't know, take me on a date as payment too?"_

_For the first time since Larxene had started teaching him thunder-elemental magic about four years ago – and doing it the painful way (for him) at that – Naruto was caught completely off guard. So, for lack of any better ideas, he said: "If it's a night on the town you're looking for, then I shall provide. Tell me what you need, and I'll see that you get it, love."_

_Naruto finished with an over-exaggerated bow, and was barely able to say the word "love" with a straight face, but he pulled it off – and the look on Xion's face was absolutely priceless. She went red as a tomato and muttered a small "EEP!" before conjuring a Corridor of Darkness around herself and running to whereabouts unknown. _

_**Harvester of Sorrow**_

Of all the responses Xion could possibly have expected, Naruto calling her "love" and offering her a "night on the town" were not among them. As soon as she realized what she was doing, though, Xion began raging against herself internally. _What the hell? I haven't even known this guy for an entire day, and it's like I'm already head-over-heels for him!_

Still, she had to admit… while she didn't _really_ know much about Naruto, from his actions and mannerisms, she could figure out some bits and pieces. For one thing, even holding back in a sparring match, he fought to win, and wasn't against using trickery if it made things easier. He wasn't without honor most of the time, but Naruto was still willing and able to fight dirty if he had to. Absentmindedly rubbing her still-somewhat-sore jaw, she remembered how strong he was physically, and also that look in his eyes throughout their fight.

It was the look of a man who would stop at little to achieve his goals, whatever they were. She wouldn't quite say that Naruto was obsessed, and Xion knew she didn't have the full story – or even know what his goals _were_ – , but… maybe he was a bit too focused for his own good.

At the same time, though, she recalled that the instant Naruto had seen her, about to fall from an ill-placed Corridor of Darkness (and probably land face-first, knowing her luck), the Harvester of Sorrow had appeared underneath Xion and caught her, before gently placing her on the ground after making sure she was okay.

Xion knew that there were very few people who could be considered as completely Light or Dark, but most tended to lean one way or another. Naruto, though… she honestly couldn't say if he was a lighter tint of black, or a darker shade of white. He really was a gray area.

_Meanwhile, on Hanging Neck Island…_

Neo had been looking for potential recruits for his and Naruto's team, but so far every opponent he'd challenged had been too weak for real consideration. He'd fought damn near everyone he could find for the last week, and still no luck.

He was brooding on the roof of the arena when a feminine voice somewhat startled him.

"I hear you're recruiting, kid. Mind if I join you?"

Neo leapt to his feet and spun around, coming face-to-face with a young woman. She looked to be a few years older than he was (biologically speaking), with short blue hair and wearing a dark silver t-shirt and charcoal slacks. **(1)** And yes, he had to admit that she was quite a looker, too.

But the thing that really caught Neo's attention, though, was the gunmetal gray Keyblade hanging from her hip, which was longer than her arms and had teeth resembling a giant capital "E" **(2)**. In fact, it was so long that were she a few inches shorter, it would have drug along the ground. He asked, "Depends. You know how to use that thing?", indicating her weapon. The woman grinned a bit, as she hefted her Keyblade in both hands, before shifting the weight to her left hand and allowing it to rest against her shoulder as she replied, "Why don't you come over here and find out for yourself, hm?"

Neo's eyes lit up at the prospect of a challenge, and he instantly summoned his weapon, wielding a blood-red double-edged longsword with black veins running along it, through which both warriors could sense a steady pulse of Darkness. With a grin that most would view as predatory, but for Neo was simply of anticipation, he shouted, "Oh HELL YES!" and rushed recklessly at his opponent.

The woman changed her position slightly, and cast a low-level **Protect** spell to block Neo's first strike, before using both hands to bring down the Key to Justice **(3)** upon the younger, silver-haired swordsman.

Neo, however, saw it coming in advance, and was able to roll out of the way, dodging the overhead slash. And after seeing the decent-sized hole in the roof it caused, the Replica whistled before saying, "Forgot to introduce myself earlier. Call me Neo. And your name is…?"

The blue-haired Keyblade Master brought her large weapon to bear in preparation for another attack before replying, "My name… is Aqua." And with that, she rushed once more at her prospective teammate.

Even though she'd been using the Key to Justice for a couple of years **(4)**, she still could only use it somewhat effectively – while Aqua was far from being a pushover, she was by no means as strong as Terra was. Even so, it didn't mean that she couldn't inflict some hefty damage with her mentor's Keyblade, and that's just what she attempted to do.

Neo found himself forced to dodge repeatedly – even though he could tell that Aqua wasn't quite used to such a heavy weapon, she was still a force to be reckoned with, and his Dark-elemental barriers were barely powerful enough to withstand even a horizontal slash: when Aqua hit with overhead strikes, said barriers crumbled after only a second or two.

The Replica leapt high into the air and formed a large cocoon of Dark energy around his entire body, before dive-bombing Aqua as he shouted, **"Shadow Rocket!"**

Aqua saw it coming, however, and she raised a palm at the reckless fighter while preparing to counter the attack. With a cry of **"Firaga!"**, a great sphere of flame appeared in Aqua's hand, before it shot out towards Neo at amazing speeds, preparing to reduce him to cinders.

Naruto's "second-in-command" was barely able to react in time to keep himself from being incinerated, as managed to perform an Aerial Recovery and convert his kamikaze attack into a Dark-Elemental burst of energy, which, upon collision with Aqua's **Firaga** spell, produced an enormous explosion.

The dust settled after a few minutes, revealing that Aqua had been knocked on her behind by the blast, but still had her Keyblade out in front of her, while Neo was panting heavily and down on one knee, using his sword to hold himself up. Checking his watch, he noted that they'd been fighting for around five and a half minutes.

Laughing a little, he said, "Hey Aqua, if you still want to join Team Turanox, then you are as of now the third member." Then, after thinking for a few seconds, he amended, "Unless Naruto got some new recruits I don't know about yet."

Neo pushed himself to his feet, and slowly walked over to Aqua, offering her his hand.

The blue-headed Keyblade Master tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear, before she smiled and accepted the gesture of kindness.

_Upon the Elemental Continent…_

Almost the entirety of Konoha was rejoicing the seventh anniversary of the "hellspawn's disappearance" from their midst.

The festivities were in full swing, but there was a certain bar devoid of partiers today. Five people sat around a table, quietly drinking alcoholic beverages of varying strength, and swapping stories about Naruto. These were the people who'd felt that they could identify with him in some way, those who were ashamed of themselves for failing to intervene and stand up for him when he was around to be stood up for.

One of them was a Chunin sensei at the Academy, Iruka Umino. He'd been one of Naruto's teachers, and while he knew that Naruto and the Kyuubi had been entirely different entities, his job as a professor had kept him from getting involved, since most would have interpreted it as playing favorites. Even so, he'd always done everything in his power to make certain that Naruto was given the same level of opportunity as the rest of his students. He took a large gulp of sake before his jaw clenched and he muttered to himself, "For all the damned good it did him…"

Another was Iruka's girlfriend, a Special Jonin by the name of Anko Mitarashi. She, like Naruto, was widely considered as a pariah for something she had no control over, which was the fact that her old sensei was a complete and utter bastard, rotten to the core. While at first, she couldn't have cared less about the Jinchuuriki, hearing about him from Iruka had gotten her interested. He'd told her that the boy was, in his own way, nothing short of genius – not in the same sense as Sasuke Uchiha or Shikamaru Nara, but in that he was impossible to predict, and a master of improvisation. After hearing things like that, she'd done a little research, and found that the kid had been treated horribly by society at large on a daily basis, and had thus taken upon herself the role of "avenging angel": hunting down and killing those that went too far, while giving the young boy a shelter whenever he'd needed it. Veins popping out of her neck in anger, Anko forced herself to calm down with a shot of straight whiskey.

Sitting across the table was a couple, a Jonin called Hayate Gekko, and his fiancée, Yugao Uzuki of the ANBU Black Ops. Like Anko, they'd first come to realize what Naruto suffered after hearing about him from Iruka, and had sought to protect him as well, though not by Anko's "blood and iron" approach: Hayate and Yugao had tried repeatedly to get Naruto into foster care, but his so-called custodians (orphanage managers) had never been willing to sign the necessary paperwork to finish it, so nothing ever worked out. Hayate and Yugao had also begun guarding Naruto's memory, though not to Anko's extreme.

The fifth man was by far the most conflicted. Kakashi Hatake had recently gotten a haircut, so that it resembled his look when he'd first been promoted to Jonin… when Obito, Rin, and Minato-sensei had all been alive. He remembered how, shortly before the Kyuubi attack, Minato had named Kakashi as Naruto's godfather. However, the cycloptic shinobi never told a soul about it, and had left Naruto on his own, knowing that he (Kakashi) was nowhere near decent parenting material. At the time, he'd sincerely thought that he'd been acting for the best, but now he hated himself for his lack of action. For God's sake, he at least could've tried to make a difference! But no, nothing had changed since that mission on the borders of Iwa: Kakashi still took care of himself before all others. He was a failure.

At that moment, one of the festival-goers outside entered the bar, and, just to be a self-righteous bastard, sat down at the same table as the Naruto sympathizers, in-between Kakashi and Yugao. For about three minutes, he remained silent, just drinking his alcohol and eyeing the other people near him. Then, he said, "Y'know wha'? I 'ear dat some o' fellas was kinda close to dat brat, and even tho' ev'rybody's gotta 'ave somebody, you fellas just didn't really 'ave much brains for da somebody dat you wanted ta 'ave, dat's all. S'a matta o' fack, I reckon dat if you guys'd just known betta who ta fra'er… fra'er… ahfuckittogod, hang out wit, then ya'd be partyin' wit da rest o' us, like normal folks." **(5)**

The drunkard then shut his mouth, awaiting a response – and as soon as he did, he got one.

Without so much as glancing in the intruder's direction, Kakashi reached out with his left hand and instantly crushed the arrogant fool's windpipe, before unleashing a blast of chakra that almost tore said drunkard's head off.

After another drink, Kakashi asked, "Have I ever told anybody… how much I hate normalcy?"

The bartender had his son drag the bloody and nearly decapitated corpse out of the bar and throw it in the gutter, before cleaning up what little mess had been made, and with strict instructions to treat the entire incident as if it had been a suicide: meaning, _nobody_ saw Kakashi do **anything**.

There were no further interruptions for the rest of the day.

_**Harvester of Sorrow**_

**(1): I couldn't properly describe Aqua's clothing, so I simply gave her a new outfit. Besides, she's been in the Realm of Darkness (where Hanging Neck Island is) for ten years, and even though she hasn't aged, she'd still want a change of clothes, I should think.**

**(2): Remember that Aqua sacrificed her own Keyblade and armor for Xehanort/Terra's body to return to the Realm of Light. Yes, I know that Aqua is the magic expert of the BBS trio, but she still needs a Keyblade for reliable melee attacks. Therefore, I gave her access to the Keyblade handed down to her from Master Eraqus.**

**(3): I don't know if Eraqus's Keyblade has a canonical name, so I invented one.**

**(4): From Aqua's point of view, it's only been two or three years, perhaps, even though ten years have passed chronologically. Remember that time flows differently in the Realm of Darkness.**

**(5): This man is dead drunk, people. Seriously, he's stoned to the bone, it's wondrous that he can even speak at all. For those who can't comprehend the babboon's babbling, here's a translation: "You know what? I hear that some of you people were fond of the brat (Naruto), and while I admit that everyone needs someone in their lives, you fellows simply had a poor choice of comrades. As a matter of fact, I believe that if you had just known better who to fraternize (read: ah, fuck it to God, hang out) with, then you'd be enjoying the festivities along with everyone else."**


End file.
